of Iceland, with a Note on the Diet of Hooded

• Main Authors: Cystophora Cristata, Harp Seals, Erlingur Hauksson, Valur Bogason
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cystophora cristata; Gadus morhua; Iceland; Phoca groenlandica; Phoca vitulina
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.545.9453; http://journal.nafo.int/J22/Hauksson.pdf

During 1992–93, an extensive collection program of seal stomachs was conducted as a part of the Multi-Species Research program of the Marine Research Institute in Iceland which commenced in 1991. The aim of the seal part of the program was to investigate their food and feeding habits and role as top-predators. In total 1 059 stomachs from grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) (737 had food remains), 799 stomachs from common seals (Phoca vitulina) (493 had food remains), 62 stomachs from hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) (47 had food remains) and 72 stomachs from harp seals (Phoca groenlandica) (39 had food-remains) were obtained. The main food species of grey seals in Icelandic waters ordered in percentage by weight, were cod (Gadus morhua), sand eels (Ammoditdae), catfish (Anarhichas lupus), saithe (Pollachius virens) and lumpsucker (Cyclopterus lumpus). Seasonal and geographic variation observed during the period January to September, showed sand eel was the domi-nant food of grey seals off the south-coast of Iceland, but cod, catfish, saithe and lumpsucker in other areas. During breeding, October to December, sand eel still dominated in grey